THE MARUTI 800, 1983- The Aam Aadmi Car

The small car that made a big difference by democratising car ownership in the country and changing the face of India's automotive industry

- BY M.G. ARUN

You could have dismissed it as a pretender challenging the stately Ambassador, or its more modern-looking competitor Pad, as the Premier Padmini or the Fiat was often called. But the Maruti 800, named so after its 800cc engine, proved to be a worthy David to the Goliaths produced respectively by Hindustan Motors and Premier Automobiles, eventually wiping their cars out of existence. Maruti 800 proved that a car did not have to be an item of luxury, it was a good essential for personal mobility. Its affordability, floor-shift gears and bucket seats, and reliability, made it deserving of the moniker of a 'people's car. A perfect fit for the aspirational nuclear family of middle-class India looking to upgrade from two-wheeler to car.